Dyeing

Thanks for all the congrats on my new granddaughter. I have all of the joy and none of the discomfort. And Nellie, you sure keep me on my toes! I've been busy dyeing fabric samples for my upcoming class at CraftSummer at Miami U in Ohio. I wanted to demonstrate to the class how doing the steps in different order can result in different markings on the final product.

So here was the plan: Use the exact same dye solution, same size pieces of fabric, same size container, same amount of liquid (except that some fabrics were pre-wetted), same overall batch time. What varied: Wet or dry, and timing.
Fabric A was presoaked in soda ash and used wet.
Fabric B was presoaked in soda ash and allowed to dry.
Fabric C was dampened, the dye solution added, and the soda ash added immediately.
Fabric D was the same as C but I waited 10 minutes after adding the dye solution before adding the soda ash.
Fabric E used dry fabric, added the dye solution, added soda ash immediately.
Fabric F same as E except I waited 10 minutes before adding the soda ash.

Here is the result:

I was somewhat dismayed to realize that there was not very much difference in the fabrics. I think there were two contributing factors. First, I manipulated the fabric when I added the dye solutions and I manipulated it again after adding the soda ash. This resulted in a more even distribution. Second problem, I used blue and yellow for the dye solution and they strike nearly at the same rate. Back to the drawing board.

For the second trial, I used fuchsia and yellow to make orange. Nothing strikes faster than fuchsia. And I resisted the temptation to manipulate the fabric. I poured on the color and I poured on the soda ash and I kept my hands to myself. So using the same procedure as in A through F above, this is the result:

A very noticeable difference. The fuchsia practically sits in place where it first hits the fabric which gives the yellow a change to migrate and be noticeable. I don't like those large areas on E and F where the color is sort of flat. Those were the dry fabrics to begin with. The pieces presoaked in soda ash resulted in the most distinct separation of color. Where the dye had time to migrate the markings are less distinct.

I've been tagged by Lisa for a 7 meme (I have to tell 7 things about myself and then tag 7 others). I have to think about this for a little bit before posting.

One more thing - since HGTV's Simply Quilts bit the dust it seems they've made the the videos available online from their website but also from the Yahoo.com website. I had 5 minutes and 37 seconds of fame several years ago and now that segment is available at Yahoo

I really hate watching myself because it sounds so stupid to me but there it is for all the world to see.

Happy Day!

I made a little change to my profile. As of yesterday I have 4 grandchildren. My daughter delivered her second child and second girl yesterday afternoon. Mom, Dad, Big Sister and New Baby are all doing well and Grandma and Grandpa are bursting their buttons with pride. Hooray!

Threads Anonymous?

After rearranging my thread drawers to accommodate my extravagant purchase of 30wt rayons in March, I realized that my cotton thread drawers were underfilled. I already have a bunch of the King Tut from Superior Threads and the heavyweight cotton from Valdani Threads, but I was lacking in light weight threads. I used to order the Tanne thread from Madiera but they don't make it anymore. I wanted 2 ply 50 wt thread. Both Valdani and Superior carry 50 wt thread, but I wasn't certain that Valdani's was thin enough. Since I already had some of the Superior MasterPiece and knew what it's like, I went with that.




And I also ordered a few more King Tut to round out my collection. I hope this fills my thread lust because even at wholesale prices I've spent an obscene amount of money on thread. It makes for a very strange line item on my tax return.

I've posted five new pieces that I've done so far this year on my website. They all use an abundance of thread. Even so, it will be quite a while before I run out.

Fun time

Yesterday Martha and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and so did Martha so the I don't have any fun pictures. It's always interesting to visit another subculture and realize that they are just as immersed in theirs as we are in ours. And it's also interesting to note where we intersect. Dyeing wool and dyeing cotton aren't very far apart, just variations on a process. Anyhow, everywhere we walked there was wool in all its stages: walking around on the sheep, being shorn, piled up all matted with stuff, cleaned, wool roving, spun wool, dyed wool, and sweaters, shawls, and scarves. I might have missed a few stages because I'm not familiar with all that goes into processing wool.

I liked watching the people spinning yarn. The spinning wheels varied from beautifully designed and crafted floor models to what looked like spinning tops. There were groups of women arranged in a circle with their spinning wheels whirring away while they chatted. Just like other groups of women sitting in a circle keeping their hands busy with some other craft.

One woman was spinning yarn from her angora rabbit. She had this pile of fur in her lap from which she would pluck a handful and add it to her spinning. Except that the pile of fur was actually the rabbit. He was perfectly happy to just sit in her lap and have her pull out his fur. She told us that angora rabbits molt four times a year and this plucking process must be done or else they will lick and swallow the fur and it will sit in their stomachs and they will die. Anyhow, she said that when she was finished with this rabbit, all its fur would be gone and ready for the next coat to grow in. Sounds a little bit like indentured servitude to me, being so attached to a non-postponeable process.

There were tons of fairgrounds-type food booths with all kinds of enticing smells, but since I'm just coming off of a very nasty GI virus, I had to avoid all that stuff and stick to my plain old PBJ sandwich. I bought a mouse pad with the Sheep and Wool logo, a set of directions for knitting a purse and then felting it, and a book on some simple shibori dyeing techniques. No yarn. It was beautiful, but I was able to resist.

Mice

I went into my studio storage closet to pull out a batt for the piece I'm working on. Imagine my disgust when I saw mouse droppings in the bag. And chewed out areas. I guess the mouse mommies like their nests lined with nice, soft, white cotton. They very daintily pulled the cotton off and left the scrim. And left their very undainty calling cards all over the rest of the batt.


This is Warm and Natural (I'm sure they would be delighted to know that theirs is the preferred batt for mouse nests). Looking at the label, which says it doesn't need to be prewashed (but in this case it does), I found directions for washing the batt. Has to be done by hand; I imagine that the washing machine does an even better job of removing the cotton from the scrim. It has to be wrung out by hand but at least I could put it in the dryer. So the majority of the batt was saved and I have repositioned my other batts in what I hope is a more inaccessible space. And set a trap, baited with cat food kibble. Why use kibble? Because I've seen the little mice run out from under the cupboard, straight to the cat food bowl, steal a piece of kibble, then run back. Obviously, my cat is not viewed as much of a threat.

Slide film

Some time ago I posted about ordering some slide film and thinking it might be the last time I did that. (At least I think I did; I can't find that post.) Well, it wasn't the last time because I just ordered more yesterday. Some places, but not very many anymore, still want slides, and it's nice to have a hard copy record, instead of 1s and 0s on a hard drive. I know that lots of people are getting slides made from their digital images but it's far more cost effective to just shoot the slide film. For about $13 I get 36 slides, full frame and details. Getting them made from digital, I would only have a couple of each for that amount, figuring $2.50 for the 1st slide of an image, $1 each after that, and $5 shipping.

I am proficient enough at shooting slides that they come out well. For only a few extra minutes of effort, I get alot more. This appeals to my miserly side.


I posted a short while back about a piece that was having problems. I wasn't sure I could save it. Here it is after some additions of paint splatterings and markings. I think it's improved. The question is, how much? What do you all think?

1-It still sucks; maybe you ought to cut it up or something.
2-Somewhat improved; maybe this could be a donation to some worthy cause.
3-It's fabulous and I want to buy it.

Wha' happend?

On Monday I posted results of my fabric painting weekend. This was one of the pieces. On Monday I ironed everything to set the paint. Yesterday I decided to wash the fabrics because some of them were very stiff.


Below is the piece after washing. Quite a difference. It's not just a bad picture, it really lost that much color. The rest of the fabrics retained their color. All I can think is that there was a lot of gelatin transferred to the fabric because we were in the hot sun and it was getting soft and the color was mostly in the gelatin. Which all washed out. Hmph. Well, at least the fabric is soft.


And I'm sure I will find a use for it.

Fabric Weekend

Yesterday was a wonderful spring weekend. We had a play day with painting fabric and it was so hot we had to move the tables into the shade. Not used to that hot sun and we had to protect our tender skin. I made up a gelatin plate to print with and also did some sun printing. Results:


Gelatin plate printing. I really like the overlap look and how the edges move into each other.



Another gelatin plate print. I used a storm drain cover from the hardware store to make the impression in the gelatin.


And another gelatin plate print. Some storm drain covers, but mostly this is the texture from the paint roller and the texture on the gelatin, put there when I tried to wipe off the top and roughed up some of the gelatin.


This is a sun print. Wet fabric painted green with more green dribbled on and with lots of grass strewn about on top of that.




Back to a gelatin plate. The texture here is from paint brush strokes.



This started with a furnace filter placed under the fabric and red paint rolled over top. You can see the furnace filter circle shapes in the upper right hand corner. Then gold paint smudged over top of that, and finally red paint from a syringe scribbled over all.



I've had this cabbage hanging around in the refrigerator for a while, never really intending to eat it but saving it for the cool design the ribs make. The leaf is underneath the fabric and the paint rolled gently over top.



My bottle of copper metallic paint split open, I guess the heat from the sun caused it to expand, and there was paint all over the bottom of the bin. I used a piece of fabric to wipe it up, then doused the whole piece in a very wet yellow paint. Very cool.

One more thing

My donation to the SAQA One Foot Square auction has been posted on their web site.

Work in Progress

It's not true that I have deserted the blogging world even though my lack of posts recently would indicate that. Here's proof:



Granted, this is an incredibly bad picture, but it is pretty close to reality. This is the piece that had the paint that was chipping off. I washed it (because I had nothing to lose) and that loose paint all went away. Along with all the interest. This piece lacks something, or several somethings. I'm going to throw some more paint at it in an attempt to revive it, but I fear that it's not going to be enough. An additional possibility is to use more paint to soften up that hard line between the pink and yellow area. And/or I can cut the whole thing up into sections and make some small pieces.

I've already nearly completed the next piece in this series using the same fabrics that I did for the above piece. They are all painted, not dyed, and I used various surface design techniques such as salt spatter, shibori around a pvc pipe, and crumpling. This second piece looks far better, partly because the accent paint is still there to accent. And the pinks and yellows are overall somewhat brighter.

The weather here sucks. It's cold and raining. Things are turning green, trees and flowers and blooming and it's too cold to be outside to really enjoy it. I'm still waiting for hummingbirds to show up in my yard. They've been sighted as far north as Massachusetts and I'm feeling left out.

My favorite season

Spring is my favorite season. It's so interesting to watch the changes that happen almost in front on your eyes. Yesterday the trees were bare and today they are budding.

I took this picture on Friday before I left for the weekend. It's the first daffodil to bloom in this garden. Last year the first bloom appeared on March 16 but on that date this year we had a few inches of snow on the ground and no blooms in sight. Today there are lots more blooms, the result of a mostly warm, sunny weekend.

Something else I watch for is the first appearance of hummingbirds. You can see the pole that holds the feeder on the right but I haven't put out any food yet. This map and database shows that hummingbirds have progressed as far north as northern North Carolina and it will probably be another several weeks before they get as far north as Maryland. But I'm going to be putting out my feeder before that and maybe I will see one soon.

New stuff and an announcement

I spent the past weekend at a retreat where I spent many wonderful hours with good friends and also stitched up a storm. I made a 12" square for the SAQA auction and once I sew a sleeve onto it will be sending it off.

And I quilted for many hours on a piece that I had put together and painted just last week. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem with some of the paint I used, well, rather I'm having a problem with some of the textile medium. It's flaking off. Some of it I can actually just scrape off with my fingernail and it doesn't even leave the slightest impression that it was ever there. This might not be such a problem if the colors were supposed to be subdued and in the background, but this paint was supposed to be the accent. If it all flakes off, there will be no accents.
Here you can see in the center how the paint is coming off. It looks interesting but I can't stop the process so eventually it will be mostly gone.

I mixed some more up last night and let it dry and will test it today and if turns out that it's that particular medium, it's going into the trash.

Since I was going to spend my time quilting, I brought all my thread. As you might recall, I just purchased 179 new spools of thread and expanded my storage bins. What I discovered is that thread is heavy and that the tall set of drawers is not only too heavy to carry, it doesn't fit into my car very well. This is a problem I'm going to have to solve before I go on the next retreat and I think the easiest solution is to just get small sets of drawers and have several of them. Without wheels I could probably stack one on top of another.

I thought I had packed for the weekend very thoughtfully but I had forgotten something important: the little box that contains all the feet for my machine. If the free motion quilting foot had been on my machine it wouldn't have been a problem because I could have borrowed a regular foot from one of the 2 other Janome users. But it wasn't, and since everybody else would be using their free motion foot, I was going to be twiddling my thumbs. Luckily I was able to arrange to meet my husband halfway between and he brought me the little box. So I only lost about 90 minutes of sewing time.

And for the announcement: my artist page on Guild.com has gone live and here is the link. They have selected five pieces to offer and here's hoping there is someone out there who is just the perfect person to give one or more of them a home.

Almost Spring

Although you couldn't tell by looking outside. The nasty storm that hit the Northeast last Friday left us without about 2 inches of sleety snow on top of ice and lots of rain. Thank heavens it wasn't cold enough for it to be totally snow because we had more than 2 inches of rain. Right now it's sunny but cold (28 degrees) and there is still snow on the ground. Later in the week it's supposed to be in the 60's and maybe I will get the first daffodil bloom.

The International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska has an interesting web site. Last month they held their biennial symposium where people from all over the world gather to hear lectures and panel presentations about quilts and also visit exhibitions. The goal of the symposium is to "celebrate quilts and quiltmaking." Michael James, who is the Ardis James Professor of Texiles, Clothing and Design at UNL and also the Chair of the department, delivered this lecture at the opening of the exhibition "Give and Take". This exhibition featured quilts created by artists who have been instructors, students or both at the Quilt Surface Design Symposium (QSDS). You can listen (and watch) the lecture, along with images taken at QSDS over the years. And if you're very patient and get all the way to the end, you will hear him quote from an email I sent him about my experience at my first QSDS in 1993. I sound very wise and profound. The gist of my statement was that 'you are where you are' and everybody is working together to become better artists.

I have finished the fifth (and last) in the series I'm preparing for the QSDI Invitational and now have to photograph it. This time I will be taking the slides to the local processing shop because I don't want to risk not having them back in time to send them off by April 1.

I've enjoyed doing this color series with its heavily stitched surface and want to continue with it. I'm thinking the next two will be black and white. That is, a black one and a white one, both of which will be challenges to me. The only white fabric I have is PFD, still in its raw state. I'm going to color them very slightly, something I have extreme difficulty in doing. The black will be black and grey, maybe with some discharge. Or not.

And I put in another order for more thread. I haven't ordered from Madeira in a long time, but I really like their 30wt rayon and wanted to order from them. I always start to hyperventilate when confronted with making decisions on which colors to order, so this time I just avoided that and ordered all of them. 180 spools of thread. One was out of stock, so I only got 179. Then I needed another set of drawers for storing thread, and a new algorithm for sorting. I used to store the cottons and rayons of the same color together, but that wasn't going to work any more. So now each each its own drawer, and I'm embarrassed by the amount of thread I have.

Quilting gloves

I have used these gloves for quilting for many years, and don't they look it? They're golf gloves with the fingertips cut off. I've never tried the gloves made specifically for quilting but it seems to me that knit gloves have too much stretch. These are lightweight leather and with the finger tips cut off I can manipulate thread and most things without having to take them off.

But I was forced to admit that I needed a new pair as I have worn a hole in the thumb. Off to the local sporting goods store to get golf gloves, size Ladies Small. Now, if you know anything about golf, you know that they only sell gloves as singles. Right handed people wear a glove on their left hand, and vice versa. Never having played golf, I don't know the reason for this. Never knew the reason for that little non-functional snap either until somebody told me it's for marking the position of the ball - you unsnap it and leave the one part on the green. Anyhow, it's pretty easy to find a Ladies Small for the left hand. But the glove for the right hand is non-existent. At least in the store where I was. Not many short left-handed female golfers. And they didn't have any gloves for kids either.

But other sports have gloves. I've seen people with gloves for weight lifting at the gym, and the finger tips are already cut out. Tried those but decided that too much of the finger is gone. Wouldn't provide enough traction. Next, batting gloves. They come in all sizes and I could find a Ladies Small. So I bought 2 pairs (they were on special, and because they come packaged as pairs I didn't have to suffer through the clerk telling me that you only need one golf glove), brought them home and proceeded to alter them to my specs. First removed the leather label on the back. And cut off the velcro band that snugs them around your wrists - don't need them that secure and it's a pain to have to fasten and unfasten it. Then cut off the tips. And then tried to stitch on the severed seam lines so they don't unravel. Suffice it to say it's not an easy task. There must be some kind of special sewing machine for making gloves.

My new gloves won't get as grungy looking as the old ones because the palms are black leather instead of white. And now back to quilting.

Progress

I've been quilting my fingers to the bone, figuratively anyhow. The quilting is finished on these two pieces and between the two of them, it took nearly 50 hours. Both pieces are approximately 50" x 50"; these are detail shots of the quilting.



The pictures have a somewhat rounded look due to being so close, I guess. The top piece is titled Deep Purple and the bottom is Yellow Brick Road. I still have to finish the edges on the purple one and that will take another few hours since it has uneven edges which require a lot of 90 degree turns. Then I have to photograph both of these. And finally begin quilting on the last of the five pieces, the red one.

These pieces are for an invitational show in June at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, Ohio. This is an invitational show sponsored by Quilt Surface Design International, and will run in conjunction with the QSDI Symposium.

My excitement for today is waiting for the service guy to come and fix our water heater. It spiked a temperature of 160 degrees on Thursday morning and then died. I'm hoping he can fix it with a new thermostat or heating element as opposed to our having to buy a brand new water heater. We have a logistical problem as a result of a furnace that was installed some years after the water heater and which boxed the water heater into a very tight spot. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to get it out without some dismantling of furnace parts. Which sounds like it could be a very expensive proposition.

Diversions and such

My excuse for not posting - I've been really really busy doing art stuff. It's the truth. I'm working on 5 pieces to submit to the Quilt Surface Design International Invitational. I've already been accepted but they will be selecting what they will exhibit from these five. I'm almost finished with the 3rd piece, having spent nearly 20 hours quilting it.

But for a few days last week I took time away and worked on a piece to send to the Surface Design Association's Members Show. In conjunction with their biennial convention they have an all hung show of members' work. The requirement is that the piece measure 18" x 52" and preferably be double sided since they hang them out in the open. I've done this several times and it's fun to do. Except for the fact that I don't seem to be able to achieve the correct size on the first go round. This time I marked out on interfacing the proper size and then added some around all the edges. But by the time I was finished quilting, it had shrunk up and I had to add about 1/2" along the bottom.



The "front" side is on the left and the "back" side on the right. I quilted it using the same color thread in both the top and bobbin so on one side the thread blends in and on the other it contrasts. Sort of hard to see here.

I've got this up on my photography wall so I can take pictures, which brings up another topic. I'm still on the fence when it comes to going totally digital. I'm still taking slides of new work, partly because I still have slide film and I might as well use it up. I've always bought it in bulk from B&H PhotoVideo in New York, and also get developing mailers. The cost of the mailer is the cost of processing the film and it has to be sent off to a lab to be processed. It's about half the cost of having it processed locally but the drawback is that it takes longer, about a week to 10 days. Anyhow, I've used the last mailer but not the last roll of film, and so ordered a few more mailers. I think this is probably the last time I will be ordering this stuff. So few places want slides anymore, and the ones that will take slides would prefer digital images. I think the only show I've entered in the last year that was exclusively slides was Quilt National. And I read a prospectus for one show recently that wanted digital but would take slides. Except that entering with slides cost an extra $50.

This really forces artists to either get computer literate or hire a business manager. Even if you have pictures taken professionally, you still have to be able to manipulate them. Everybody wants them in a different size or format and it's just not consistent. I know quite a few artists who are being left out because they can't, or won't, learn how to do this.

Quilting lines

I picked one of the 5 backgrounds that I have prepared and now I'm quilting it, covering the entire surface with background stitching. When that's finished, I'll start adding focus interest and stuff. I like using this grid pattern and worked out a method to get straight lines with the free motion foot and a ruler held along the side of the foot that guides it. Worked pretty well as long as I didn't try to make any grids larger than about 6" x 6". I varied the grid spacing: 1 inch and 1/2 inch, and used different weights of thread. After doing about a dozen of these grids, it just looked too rigid. With all the lines nearly perfectly straight, it just seemed that there was no soul to the stitching. So I went back to free motion stitching and letting the line wander a bit. I'm using different thread weights and different sized grids, with different sized spacing in the grids.


Shortly after I started this I decided that my thread box needed a greater variety of one particular type thread: Superior Threads King Tut machine quilting thread. They describe it as a Low-lint #40/3 extra-long staple Egyptian cotton. It's heavier than the 40wt rayon thread I often use, so the line is a little more obvious. Anyhow, I'm waiting for the approximately 20 spools that I ordered last week. It's getting to the point where I'm going to need more thread drawers.

Goals: Been keeping track of the hours spent on art time. For the past 4 weeks I've spent a total of 32, 25, 40, and 39 hours each week. The amount of art (vs business) has been 21, 10.5, 25, and 23, so 54% of my time has been on art. That's discouraging that business is taking up so much time. Thinking back, what I've done that I've counted as business includes several meetings, hanging a show, giving a lecture, drive to deliver art, prepare show entries, visit a venue, photograph work, and bookkeeping. There don't seem to be many days that are devoted solely to art work. And I didn't spend much time on surface design, only about 4.5 hours total. Gotta work on that.

Hand work

I've been spending a lot of time this past week doing handwork on my current piece. Which means I've been watching a bunch of movies and tv and listening to alot of books because I can't just sit without something occupying my brain. I just can't imagine doing handwork all the time; it certainly cuts down on the amount of creative time I can do on a piece. And I'm using thick thread and taking big stitches.


The stitching is holding down these two (and 3 others) rectangles of gossamer (a very thin interfacing type material) that I have painted. The rectangles are about 5" x 6" in size. Below is a little bit closer view and you can sort of see the big stitches. It seems to be shinier in the picture than in reality, although there is some metallic gold paint on here.


While I've been doing this hand stitching, I've also been making more backgrounds to continue this series. I now have 5: red, blue/purple; yellow; green; and brownish. The last two are done with fabrics that have stamping and screening in addition to the dyed color. They are going to be more difficult to work with, I think, but one never progresses without a challenge.

We have a winter storm warning in effect for tonight and tomorrow - an inch or two of snow along with icing conditions. This will be the first snow of the season and odds are everything will be closed tomorrow. Baltimore goes into panic mode at the mention of snow and it's fueled to an even higher pitch by the tv weatherman who can't wait to tell us about how awful it's going to be. I'll bet the grocery stores are getting their pre-snow run on milk, bread, and toilet paper. I can sort of understand milk and bread, but for heavens sake, don't most people have more than one spare roll of toilet paper in their closet?

Opening

The opening of the FABrications show last Sunday was well attended. A steady stream of viewers attended, included the former County Executive. Everybody was properly appreciative of the art and we're hoping the show continues with lots more viewers, and maybe even a purchaser or two. I meant to take pictures but I forgot my camera. However, Martha remembered hers and took pictures so you can still see what the place looked like.

I'm trying a new approach to this current series that starts with a paint splattered background. I am usually a one-track kind of person - I work on one piece start to finish. I don't like having unfinished work hanging around; if it hangs around, it means I don't like it much, and it tends to never get finished. Anyhow, I am doing some handwork on the current piece and I just can't do handwork all day long. So I've started on more backgrounds. I'll make several then do the paint splattering and continue from there. So far I have 2 backgrounds that I did yesterday. Since they're just big pieces of fabric stitched together it doesn't take long to compose. And if I don't like one, I didn't spend a lot of time on it, and so not much time was wasted. Of the two I did yesterday, one I like (it's red) and the other is sort of iffy. Maybe the paint splatters will improve it.

In a few minutes I'm off to give a lecture to a local guild on my journey from traditional quilter to art quilter. I've given this lecture maybe 10 times and it's interesting how it changes over the years. The beginning part is still pretty much the same, but the art quilt part has expanded and progressed. So, I'm off.

What's Happening

Not much, to tell the truth. Keeping track of art time - last week I logged 32 hours, of which 21 hours were actual studio time. Pretty good. So far this week it's 23 business hours and only 3 studio hours. I spent a lot of time on Tuesday hanging a show for one of my local groups Fiber Artists of Baltimore, and a lot of time on Wednesday going to a meeting of my other local art group New Image. The show opening is Sunday and I plan to take pictures. Of course, that means I have to remember to bring the camera.

I just finished taking down the rest of the Christmas decorations. Now somebody else can store the boxes away. The box with the tree is just too heavy for me to drag up 2 flights of stairs.

Next week I'm scheduled to give a talk at a local guild. I need to go through my slide tray and edit. Last time I gave the talk there were too many slides and so I talked way too much. In addition to the slides I always bring some quilts. But right now the ones I would want to bring are out at shows, one of which is not too far from the lecture site. Maybe we should do a field trip.

If you're in the area on Sunday, come to the show opening: Slayton House Gallery, Columbia, MD, 3-5pm.

Do you ever have stuff that Goodwill won't take but is too good to just throw out? Try FreeCycle. The website is sort of the umbrella for thousands of local groups. The way it works is you post that you have something to offer and then you get emails from people who want it. You choose the lucky recipient and arrange a pickup time and location. I gave away a computer monitor because I got a new flat panel for Christmas. Posted the notice at 7:30am and by noon the monitor was gone. Today I gave away a scroll saw that somebody gave us when he was downsizing. I know you want to see what a scroll saw looks like:


And that's the picture for today.